‘We are not the shoes of white supremacists’: a critical race perspective of consumer responses to brand attempts at countering racist associations

ABSTRACT

Recently, brands have come under fire for being associated with groups like neo-Nazis and white nationalists. In reaction, brands have tried to distance themselves through appeals to diversity. This research contributes to the literature on multiculturalism in marketing through a critical race perspective of how and why consumers participate in social networks in efforts to counter racism. Our findings identify three ways in which consumers respond, by punishing, advising, and defending, and highlight the relevance of circulating affect and exalted national subjects for understanding the practice and impact of multiculturalism in marketing on social media. This research contributes to our understanding of multiculturalism in marketing by extending ideas of impact beyond questions of personal cognitive change. By connecting issues of race to the larger project of nation-building, this research also complements psychological accounts of how consumers engage with brands in social networks as they work to take up diversity.

KEYWORDS:

• Racism
• multiculturalism
• nationalism
• critical race
• social media
• brands

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Eileen Fischer, Darryl Leroux, and Rachel Zellars for reading and providing feedback on earlier versions of this article as well as the Special Issue Editors and Reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. https://dailystormer.su/your-uniform-new-balance-just-became-the-shoes-of-white-people/

2. https://www.facebook.com/TIKIBrand/posts/10154458849046324

3. https://twitter.com/PapaJohns/status/930588793635209216

4. https://www.facebook.com/DETROITREDWINGS/photos/a.10151521620589139/10155108394349139/?type=3

5. Thanks to a reviewer for suggesting this.

6. Thanks to a reviewer for pointing this out.

7. https://www.npr.org/2016/06/28/483883321/fact-check-trumps-speech-on-the-economy-annotated

8. https://dailystormer.su/

9. https://twitter.com/newbalance/status/798,322,478,389,035,009

10. Thanks to a reviewer for observing this.

11. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Cancel%20Culture

12. None of the punishing comments indicated support for Trump and/or white nationalism which is consistent with how the Daily Stormer’s own readers responded to its endorsement. Moreover, the Daily Stormer’s endorsement acknowledged and ultimately justified the possibility that New Balance was acting strategically: ‘I am personally far too cynical to believe this Trump endorsement is something other than a marketing ploy, but I am also far too savvy to believe that matters. The fact is, they are publicly supporting Trump, publicly supporting US manufacturing. The fact that they are doing that because they believe it will be profitable is irrelevant’.

13. https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-transcript-august-9-2015-n408516

14. Pseudonyms based upon original usernames used throughout

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [41020101711].

Notes on contributors

ML Wei

ML Wei is an Assistant Professor at Saint Mary’s University in the Sobey School of Business. Their research examines consumer sentiments about the role and process of marketing and the ways in which consumers conceive of and enact a sense of agency in the marketplace.

Benita Bunjun

Benita Bunjun is an Associate Professor at Saint Mary’s University in the Department of Social Justice and Community Studies. Her research examines organizational and institutional power relations within academic spaces and workplaces. She works with racialized students and international students at various universities to promote their scholarship and well-being.